Comparative biodiversity of rivers, streams, ditches and ponds in an agricultural landscape in Southern England

Williams, Penny; Whitfield, Mericia; Biggs, Jeremy; Bray, Simon; Fox, Gill; Nicolet, Pascale; Sear, David

doi:10.1016/s0006-3207(03)00153-8

Cited by 753 publications

(679 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…It introduces novel and alien substances such as biocides to which there has been little time for evolution of defensive mechanisms. The bottom line is that notwithstanding the local instances of maintenance of biodiversity by traditional agricultural systems in maintaining ponds (Williams et al 2004), wet meadows and fens (e.g. Wheeler 1980), agriculture has in no way had a positive net effect on the ecological functioning or biodiversity of receiving waters.…”

Section: Agriculture As Kali and Ceresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water pollution by agriculture

Moss

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

389

179

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Agriculture disrupts all freshwater systems hugely from their pristine states. The former reductionist concept of pollution was of examining individual effects of particular substances on individual taxa or sub-communities in freshwater systems, an essentially ecotoxicological concept. It is now less useful than a more holistic approach that treats the impacts on the system as a whole and includes physical impacts such as drainage and physical modification of river channels and modification of the catchment as well as nutrient, particulate and biocide pollution. The European Water Framework Directive implicitly recognizes this in requiring restoration of water bodies to 'good ecological quality', which is defined as only slightly different from pristine state. The implications for the management of agriculture are far more profound than is currently widely realized.

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Section: Agriculture As Kali and Ceresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water pollution by agriculture

Moss

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

389

179

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“…It is only recently that the value of ponds as a biodiversity resource (Williams et al 2004), carbon sink (Downing et al 2008), floodwater management tool and pollution filter (Fiener et al 2005) has been recognised. Even when managed for mankind's use, ponds can still contribute to biodiversity, as has been shown for motorway stormwater retention ponds in France (Scher et al 2004) and angling ponds in England (Wood et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have highlighted the biodiversity value of ponds in comparison to other aquatic habitats. Ponds in a lowland region of the UK were shown to contribute more species on a regional level than rivers, streams or ditches, although there was considerable variation in richness between individual ponds (Williams et al 2004). The significant contribution made by ponds to the regional species pool gamma diversity has also been demonstrated across Europe (Davies et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental correlates of plant and invertebrate species richness in ponds

2011

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Ponds (lentic water bodies <2ha) constitute a considerable biodiversity resource. Understanding the environmental factors that underlie this diversity is important in protecting and managing the habitat. We surveyed 425 ponds for biological and physical characteristics with 78 of those also surveyed for chemical characteristics. A total of 277 invertebrate species and 265 plant species were found. Species richness varied between 2 and 99 (mean 27.2 ± 0.6 SE) for invertebrates and 1 and 58 (mean 20.8 ± 0.4 SE) for plants. Generalised linear models were used to investigate variables that correlate with the species richness of plants and invertebrates, with additional models to investigate insect, Coleoptera, Odonata, Hemiptera, Trichoptera and Mollusca species richness. Models performed well for invertebrates in general (R 2 =39.8%) but varied between lower-order invertebrate taxa (8.2-34.9%). Ponds with lower levels of shading and no history of drying contained higher numbers of species of plants and all invertebrate groups. Aquatic plant coverage positively correlated with species richness in all invertebrate groups apart from Trichoptera and the presence of fish was associated with high invertebrate species richness in all groups apart from Coleoptera. The addition of chemistry variables only increased the explanatory power of the model explaining plant species richness, for which phosphate was a highly significant factor. We demonstrate that the composition of biological communities varies along with their species richness and that less diverse ponds are more variable compared to more diverse ponds. Promoting a high landscape-level pond biodiversity will involve the management of a high diversity of pond types within that landscape.

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“…Ponds are lentic shallow water bodies, have an immense water retention capacity to maintain a balanced water column of an ecosystem. At local level ponds contribute more to biodiversity by supporting more unique and scare species [2].Hence monitoring and conservation of aquatic ecosystem are gaining importance due to its uniqueness. Urban watersheds are getting polluted mainly due to dumping of both solid and liquid untreated industrial and domestic wastes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological Assessment of Trace Metal Components from Some Lentic Fresh Water Aquifers, South West Coast of India

2015

IJSR

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Abstract:The current study was carried out for examining the heavy metal pollution profile of seven urban ponds in Chavara industrial area, south west coast of India. The study was conducted seasonally for a period of one year from January 2014 to December 2014. Results obtained from AAS analysis showed that toxic heavy metals such as copper (Cu), Manganese(Mn), zinc(Zn), Iron(Fe), lead(Pb), Cadmium(Cd), Nickel(Ni), Cobalt (Co), and Chromium(Cr) in the water samples were found to be higher than drinking water standards prescribed by WHO, BIS and FAO. This study is an attempt to compare the hydrological assessment of heavy metals in water of different ponds due to pollution from near industry-KMML, situates in Chavara, Kollam, India.

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Comparative biodiversity of rivers, streams, ditches and ponds in an agricultural landscape in Southern England

Cited by 753 publications

References 32 publications

Water pollution by agriculture

Water pollution by agriculture

Environmental correlates of plant and invertebrate species richness in ponds

Hydrological Assessment of Trace Metal Components from Some Lentic Fresh Water Aquifers, South West Coast of India

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